Infielder Travis Bazzana of the Oregon State Beavers. (Photo by Amanda Loman/Getty Images)
The Pac-12 Baseball Tournament starts on Tuesday. The lowest seeds will play three games to reach the nine-team field. Here are five things to know about the event, which will be played in Scottsdale, Ariz., this week.
Bazzana Driving Scouts Bananas – Oregon State’s Travis Bazzana is the No. 2 ranked prospect for the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft, according to MLB.com. The 21-year-old Australian plays second base, bats left, throws right, and has been terrorizing college pitchers for three years. As a freshman, Bazzana batted .306/.425/.478 with a .902 OPS, six homers, and 44 RBI, and he’s improved every season since. In 53 games this year, Bazzana is hitting .429/.587/.963 with a 1.551 OPS, 26 homers, 62 RBI, and 68 walks.
Outside of NCAA baseball, Bazzana made his first appearance with the Sydney Blue Sox in the Australian Baseball League at age 15 and batted .304 in nine games of action with Sydney as a 17-year-old, playing in a league that stocks its’ rosters with numerous former minor leaguers. With Falmouth of the Cape Cod League last summer, Bazzana batted .375/.456/.581 with 14 homers on his way to being named the league MVP.
According to MLB.com’s prospect profile, Bazzana “has an advanced approach at the plate with a ton of raw power he taps into. However, he can occasionally be susceptible to offspeed stuff on the outer half. He’s proven he can hit lefties as well as righties.”
While Bazzana is ranked No. 2 for the upcoming draft behind Charlie Condon out of the University of Georgia, he could potentially be the first overall pick.
Cal Catcher Caleb Lomavita Catching Eyes – Cal’s Caleb Lomavita, a native of Hawai’i in his third year at the University of California, is the No. 14 prospect for the upcoming draft according to MLB.com’s rankings. Lomavita is batting .312/.385/.563 with 12 home runs and 50 RBI with the Bears, and batted .329/.374/.494 with Cotuit of the Cape Cod League last summer.
MLB.com’s Lomavita profile notes that his “stock has soared as his bat potential has improved. He utilizes an unusual approach and swing mechanics from the right side, with the drop of his back leg to create a launch-oriented swing, but he routinely finds the barrel. He can drive the ball to all fields and really started to tap into his raw power in 2023 as he chased less and recognized spin better.”
Other draft prospects in the tournament are 14th-ranked catcher Malcolm Moore of Stanford, 104th-ranked outfielder Austin Overn of Southern California, 105th-ranked outfielder Rodney Green of California, 106th-ranked pitcher Aiden May of Oregon State, and 131st-ranked pitcher Jackson Kent of Arizona. Duce Gourson, a second baseman out of UCLA, is ranked 143rd.
Format – The top nine teams from the Pac-12 regular season qualify for the tournament, meaning three teams – Washington State, which finished 10th at 9-21, and UCLA, which finished 12th with the same record – will not be in Scottsdale this week. Colorado, the 12th team in the conference, dropped baseball as a varsity sport in 1980.
Each of the nine teams that qualified for the conference tournament are assigned to a pool: Pool A includes No. 1 Arizona (20-10), No. 6 California (17-13), and No. 9 Washington (10-20); Pool B is comprised of No. 2 Oregon State (19-10), No. 5 Arizona State (17-13), and No. 8 Stanford (11-19); and Pool C features No. 3 Oregon (19-11), No. 4 Southern California (17-12), and No. 7 Utah (16-14).
A team that loses two games in pool play is eliminated. Four teams—the three pool winners and one wildcard team—will advance to Friday’s semifinals. The winners of Friday’s semifinals will advance to the final on Saturday evening.
Venue – All games in the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament will be played at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz. Built in 1992, the ballpark is the spring training home of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants and has a seating capacity of 12,000. It previously hosted the Triple-A Phoenix Firebirds of the Pacific Coast League from 1992-97, when the Firebirds moved to Fresno, Calif. in advance of the arrival of MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, and three games during pool play of the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Broadcast Information/Schedule—All tournament games will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network, with availability depending on your cable/streaming provider. Saturday’s championship game will air on ESPNU.
Pac-12 Baseball Championship Schedule
All times Eastern Daylight Time
Tuesday, May 21
1 p.m. – Stanford vs. Arizona State (Pool B)
5:30 p.m. – Utah vs. Southern California (Pool C)
10 p.m. – Washington vs. California (Pool A)
Wednesday, May 22
1 p.m. – Oregon State vs. Stanford (Pool B)
5:30 p.m. – Oregon vs. Utah (Pool C)
10 p.m. – Arizona vs. Washington (Pool A)
Thursday, May 23
1 p.m. – Arizona State vs. Oregon State (Pool B)
5:30 p.m. – Southern California vs. Oregon (Pool C)
10 p.m. – California vs. Arizona (Pool A)
Friday, May 24
5:30 p.m. – Semifinal No. 1
10 p.m. – Semifinal No. 2
Saturday, May 25
10 p.m. – Pac-12 Championship Game (TV: ESPNU)
